Letter from Augusta: Chairman Fred Ridley content the Masters is right where it needs to be
CONTENT: Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, shakes hands with Scottie Scheffler. Pic: AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File.
Club and tournament chairman Fred Ridley faced the media for a rare encore press conference ahead of the 89th Masters, and he seems pretty content at the moment that the season’s first major is right where it needs to be.
“I hope all of you will agree that our golf course and grounds are in magnificent condition,” he said, lauding the club as well as community efforts to recover from the devastation left by Hurricane Helene seven months ago.
In the course of his state-of-the-Masters conference, Ridley suggested that changes to Masters qualification is under consideration, supported the golf ball rollback as well as slow-play initiatives and that the rival tours need to figure something out to spark unification.
“I’m going to continue to be … encouraging the leaders of the organizations involved to try to work together to come up with a solution. But I think we all agree that four times a year is not enough to have the great players of the game together.”
“Playing without undue delay, as the rules and the game’s traditions dictate, is an essential skill of golf at all levels. Recognizing the challenges professionals face each week, I also believe pace of play is an important element of the examination of the world’s best players.
“Golf is a special game because it requires us to be considerate while also being competitive. Respecting other people’s time, including, importantly, the fans who support the game, is a fundamental courtesy.
"Therefore, I want to encourage continued dialogue on this topic, especially at the professional levels which serve as the most visible representation of our sport.
“I think maybe this might be a call to action that perhaps we haven’t seen in the past.”
“We feel we can deal with that issue, whether it’s a LIV player or a player on some other tour that might not otherwise be eligible for an invitation, that we can handle that with a special invitation.”
“Once again, I am here reaffirming our support of the governing bodies and their efforts to address the issue of distance. Together, the R&A and the USGA have been deliberative and collaborative on their efforts on this topic to arrive at a decision which was, in fact, announced in 2023.
"Implementation is the next challenge, as we all knew it would be. It is critical for the good of the game that all stakeholders work together as this issue evolves.”
“We think it’s important to win a PGA Tour tournament, and we have for many years recognized that by granting an invitation to the winner of each tournament.
"But like we do every year, and I’ve said this I think every year in this press conference, we will have a thorough examination of our qualifications at the end of the year – or after the tournament this year – and we may make some changes.
"I think your comment about a couple of international tournaments is well-founded, and that will be part of our examination.”
“We certainly abhor domestic violence of any type. As it relates to Angel, (he) has served the sentence that was prescribed by the Argentine courts, and he is the past champion. And so he was invited.”
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